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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDMUND W. WOODRUFF, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

PAPER-FILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 297,905, dated April 29, 1884.

' Application filed March 28, 1584. (No model.)

To all whom itonay concern:

Be it known that I, EDMUND W. WOODRUFF, of Washington,- inthe District of Columbia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Paper-Files; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and accurate description of the same.

Heretofore paper-files of the class to which this invention relates have been constructed with a stationary bot m, end and side boards, and a movable pressure or file board, between which and the. end board the papers are pressed and confined, the movable file-board being forced up against the papers and mechanically locked and held in place. Among those which look against the base-board or some part attached thereto, some act by gripping the baseboard or some part attached thereto between lugs or surfaces relatively stationary, as in the paper-file patented in 1868 to Woodruff and Green, and some actby gripping the baseboard or some part attached thereto between. jaws or surfaces acting positively inopposition to each other, so as to squeeze said base part between them.

The present invention is an improvement over the. first-named mode, because the fileboard is, in effect, hinged directly to the baseboard at its lower end, and may be released and permitted. to fall backward without being moved backward bodilyat the bottom, and the papers can be conveniently examined with the use of one hand only.

The present invention is an improvement over the second-named mode, because it is greatly more convenient in manipulation and time occupied, a single movement only being required to unclamp and draw back the file- 'board, instead of two movements, as in a positive clamp device.

My invention consists in a file-board attached to a standard or support having a slid-' ing connection at its bottom with the base board, and a movable brace hinged to said fileboard supporter, which, when forced into position in opposition to the elastic resistance of the compressed papers, cause a clamp or biting action, which causes the file-board to be locked and held in position.

It also relates to other minor improvements, which will be particularly described, and pointed out in the claims.

I That others may fully understand my improvement, I will particularly describe it in the form which I prefer, without intending to confine myself to the particular details of construction, but only to the fundamental idea of a clamping-brace hinged to the file-board sup porter, so that it may be locked or released by the same motion which forces the file-board against the papers or withdraws it therefrom.

Figure 1 is aside elevation showing my device with the file-board hinged to the supporter.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation supporter. Fig. 4 is a transverse section showing the pivotal connection with the baseboard. Fig. 5 is a similar section showing a;

modification.

A is the head-board, B is the baseboard, and O C are the side boards. The base-board Fig. 2 is a perspective View of myvdevice .in action. showing the file-board rigidly attached to the a supporter having an arm or arms, 9, which extend down past and below the overhanging edges of the plate e and engage the lower surfaces thereof. This constitutes a sliding connection of the file-board with the base-board, whereby the file-board may move 1ongitudinally along the base-board to follow up the mass of papers. v

A brace, H, is hinged at its upper end to the supporter i of the file-board or follower in.such,a position that when its lower end is forced down against or nearly against the foot of said supporter, and in contact with the upper surface of the plate 0, the pivotal axis of the brace H will be nearly vertical as to its point of contact with the plate 6, and the neck 9 will be raised into engagement with the under surface of said plate 6. When in these positions the elastic resistance of the paper will be in a direction perpendicular to the follower, and will be thereby transmitted to the brace H at its pivotal end (at m) in a direction nearly tangential to its radius from its foot contact as an axial point. Therefore, however great may be the pressure upon the file-board, it cannot cause the foot of the brace to slide upon the base-board, but, on the contrary,will tend to cause said brace to move on its foot contact as a pivot and to raise said board; but being held down by the engagement of the neck 9 with the under surface, a, the supporteri cannot rise up, and there is consequently a firm grip of said plate 0. Therefore, when papers are to be clamped, it is only necessary to push the file-board forward until sufiicient pressure is obtained, and then to push the foot of the brace to its proper position, and the clamping and locking are effected.

It is generally desirable that the file-board F shall have an independent capacity of selfadjustment to the surface of the bundle of papers of unequal thickness at its ends, and I therefore hinge said board to the supporter) at or near its upper end; but such pivoting of the file-board is unconnected with the clamping action of the ,braces H, and not essential.

The above description sets out the principle of my invention. In practice I prefer to construct it substantially as shown-that is to say,

a plate, i, has at its lower end the neck 9 and the cross-head lugs K, adapted to pass down through a slot in the plate 0 and engage the under surface of said plate at each side of said slot, as shown in. Fig. 3, or with two necks and the lugs K turned inward to clasp the undercut edges of a single rail or plate, as shown in Fig. 4. At a proper point on the plate '17, I place a lug, an, to which the upper end of the brace H is hinged. All the strains of the clamping are therefore confined to this structure, and the board F does not require unusually strong fastening to the plate 2', as would be the case were the hinge attachment of the movable clamping part fastened to the fileboard independent of the attachment of the neck 9 to said board, so that the clamping strains would be directly transmitted to the wood through the attaching screws or rivets. \Vood is so soft and pliable that such attach; ments cannot long withstand the wearing action of frequcntly-recurring strain and release.

As it is not desirable to depend upon the brace H to prop the fileboard when the pa pers are released, I place a shoulder, 12, at the bottom of the plate 1', so that as the brace H is pulled backward to a desirable angle it may be supported there by engagement of said shoulder with the plate 0.

My application for Letters Patent filed Feb ruary 23, 1884, Serial No. 121,769, having been adjudged to interfere, as to two of its claims, wit-h another pending application, I have elected, under Rule 125, to divide out that part of said application which has been adjudged to be not in interference, and I have included the same herein. I therefore disclaim, as to this patent, so much of my invention as has been adjudged to be in interference, as above stated.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new 1s- 1. The head and base boards of apaper-file, the file-board, and a supporter for the same, the lower end whereof has a sliding connection with the base-board, combined with a brace hinged at its upper end to the file-board supporter, the lower free end of said brace bearing on the base-board, and adapted to clamp and lock the file-board when pushed to a point on the base-board nearly in line with the axis of the hinge, as set forth.

2. The head-board A, base-board B, and

1 the file-board F, with its supporter 1', having l at its lower end a sliding pivotal connection with said base-board, combined with a brace, H, hinged at its upper end to said file-board supporter, the free end of said brace bearing on the baseboard, and adapted to clamp and lock the file-board when pushed to a point on the base-board nearly in line with the axis of the hinge, as set forth.

The file-board A, base-board B, provided with the undercut slots or grooves, and the file-board F, combined with the plate 2', provided at its lower end with the lugs K, and the brace H, hinged to the upper end of said plate i, whereby the clamping strains are not transmitted to nor through the file-board F, as set forth.

et. The head-board A, base-board B, and file-board F, combined with the plate 1', having a sliding pivotal connection with said baseboard, and provided with the shoulder 17, and the hinged brace H, whereby when the fileboard is tilted backward it is supported in its angular position by said shoulder independent of said brace, as set forth.

5. The head-board A andbase-board B, combined with the supporter 2', having a sliding pivotal connection with said base-board, the brace H, hinged to said supporter, and the file-board F, also hinged to said supporter at 110 about the middle of length of said file'board.

E. \V. IVOODRUFF.

Witnesses:

J. A. LOUNSBURY, SAM A. REED. 

